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"Our souls are filled with unutterable anguish" : atrocity and the origins of divisive memory, 1861-1865 -- "Remember Andersonville" : recrimination during Reconstruction, 1865-1877 -- "This nation cannot afford to forget" : contesting the memory of suffering, 1877-1898 -- "We are the living witnesses" : the limitations of reconciliation, 1898-1914 -- "A more proper perspective" : objectivity in the shadow of twentieth-century war, 1914-1960 -- "Better to take advantage of outsiders' curiosity" : the consumption of objective memory, 1960-present -- "The task of history is never done" : Andersonville National Historic Site, the national POW museum, and the triumph of patriotic memory.

Summary: The first study of Civil War memory to focus exclusively on the military prison camps, Haunted by Atrocity offers a cautionary tale of how Americans, for generations, have unconsciously constructed their recollections of painful events in ways that protect cherished ideals of myth, meaning, identity, and, ultimately, a deeply rooted faith in American exceptionalism.

"Our souls are filled with unutterable anguish" : atrocity and the origins of divisive memory, 1861-1865 -- "Remember Andersonville" : recrimination during Reconstruction, 1865-1877 -- "This nation cannot afford to forget" : contesting the memory of suffering, 1877-1898 -- "We are the living witnesses" : the limitations of reconciliation, 1898-1914 -- "A more proper perspective" : objectivity in the shadow of twentieth-century war, 1914-1960 -- "Better to take advantage of outsiders' curiosity" : the consumption of objective memory, 1960-present -- "The task of history is never done" : Andersonville National Historic Site, the national POW museum, and the triumph of patriotic memory.

The first study of Civil War memory to focus exclusively on the military prison camps, Haunted by Atrocity offers a cautionary tale of how Americans, for generations, have unconsciously constructed their recollections of painful events in ways that protect cherished ideals of myth, meaning, identity, and, ultimately, a deeply rooted faith in American exceptionalism.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Cloyd (Hinds Community College, Mississippi) offers an outstanding history of how POWs during the US Civil War have been remembered popularly, politically, and historically. Beginning with journalistic accounts of prisoner of war camps during the war, Cloyd records the shifting changes in treatment as he takes his study to the present. Not surprisingly, the "waving the bloody shirt" era of Reconstruction differs dramatically from apathetic contemporary times, but also from the Progressive Era's embrace of reconciliation and the objectivism adopted during the world wars. Cloyd frequently focuses on the infamous Confederate prisoner of war camp in Andersonville, Georgia (since 1998, the home of the National Prisoner of War Museum), and its vilified commander Henry Wirz (the only man executed after the war for war crimes). Scrupulously fair to arguments from both the North and South, the book offers an insightful case study of memory and the political fights over how events should be remembered, recorded, and commemorated. Though occasionally slipping into editorializing, Cloyd ultimately provides a very valuable demonstration that history is not a collection of dry facts, but a perpetual debate over meaning. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. J. R. Edwards Grove City College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

<p>Benjamin G. Cloyd teaches history at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Mississippi.</p>